Smith spoke to his wife, Trish, and together they decided to keep his diagnosis secret.

He added: "We had a wee chat. I said: 'Look, it's curable, so let's take our time, get a few tests.' I had a bit of footy to coach, so I was trying to juggle both things, and tried not to think about it too much really.

Most read in sport

fightback

big city life

Liverpool ace Van Dijk wants to move to London and visits on his days off

BATTLE OF THE BANS

FOUR Prem teams at risk of transfer ban after Chelsea feel wrath of Fifa

'VERY EMOTIONAL'

WWE owner Vince McMahon reduced to tears after Brock Lesnar lost title

"That was great, because sometimes I had been lying there at night thinking, 'What the hell am I doing here?' But after talking to Tony I was able to handle it pretty well.

"The urologist wasn't too worried because it was pretty slow moving. That was the line I took."

Scans revealed the cancer was only restricted to his prostate, so he underwent a prostatectomy on December and the results have been good.

Rugby fan streaks across pitch following late Lions try vs All Blacks

Smith said: "It easier than some of the rugby injuries I've had. I was out of the hospital after a day and a half, at home walking around and recovering really early.

"I'm going to help the Kobe Steelers club in Japan. They have a relationship with the Chiefs, and I'm going to have an involvement with the coaches at Kobe and get a bit of coaching in from time to time.

"I'll also be doing two to three weeks with the Italian national team coaches over the year.

"I'll attend a couple of camps to have a mentoring-type role with Conor O'Shea and Mike Catt. I have a real passion for Italy, its people and their rugby, so Trish and I are looking forward to getting back there now and again."